John Aylesworth
John Aylesworth | |
|---|---|
 John Aylesworth - Writer/Producer | |
| Born | August 18, 1928 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | July 28, 2010 (aged 81) Rancho Mirage, California |
| Occupation | Television writer, producer, comedian, author, playwright, and actor |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Notable works | Hee Haw |
| Spouse | Anita Rufus |
| Children | Linda, Robert, John, Cynthia, Bill, and Thomas Aylesworth |
| Relatives | Fredrick and Marie Aylesworth |
John Bansley Aylesworth (August 18, 1928 – July 28, 2010) was a Canadian television writer, producer, comedian, and actor, best known as co-creator of the American country music television variety show Hee Haw, which appeared on network television for two years and then ran for decades in first-run syndication.[1]
Early career at CBC
The son of Fredrick and Marie Aylesworth,[2] John Bansley Aylesworth was born on August 18, 1928, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and performed on radio as a child. He left high school before graduating and went into the advertising business, joining MacLaren Advertising as a writer, where he worked together with Frank Peppiatt. His wife recalled that they "were total cutups at the agency" and were approached by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation based on their reputation to write sketches for the late night variety program After Hours.[3] At this point they officially became the comedy team of Peppiatt and Aylesworth. Peppiatt & Aylesworth were Canada's first television comedy team. They also wrote and performed on the CBC programs The Big Revue and On Stage and Aylesworth created Front Page Challenge, a current events and history game show that ran on CBC Television from 1957 to 1995.[1][4]
Hee Haw
Aylesworth and Peppiatt relocated to the United States in 1958 and got work writing for The Andy Williams Show.[3]
They had worked together on
Ron Simon curator of television and radio at New York's Paley Center for Media described their collaboration at Hee Haw as "an interesting hybrid of two of the most popular programs of the '60s, The Beverly Hillbillies and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, and ironically outlasted both of them".[5] The show featured a sequence of brief sketches of cornball humor, combined with performances by top acts in bluegrass, country and western and gospel music. The show lasted for two seasons, starting in 1969 on CBS in prime time and lasted on network television until 1971 when CBS axed nearly all of its rural-oriented programming.[4] The show then ran in syndication for another 22 years, making it one of the longest-running programs in television history with 585 episodes.[1] Simon noted that Hee Haw featured performances by "Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Conway Twitty preserved in their prime".[3] They sold the show in 1982 for $15 million.
Later career
Aylesworth and Peppiatt also wrote for other television programs, including
Aylesworth worked with Peppiatt on a stage musical DURANTE, based on the life of Jimmy Durante which played in several cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Toronto. In his later career he repeatedly tried to find work as a television writer, but couldn't find any. He gave up looking in the 1980s and filed a class action lawsuit against agents and the television studios claiming age discrimination.[1]
In 1996 Peppiatt and Aylesworth reunited for a tribute show in Canada honouring their long careers and great contributions to television and film. The program, "Adrienne Clarkson Presents- A Tribute to Peppiatt & Aylesworth: Canada's First Television Comedy Team" aired in October 1996 on the CBC and was rerun several times through 1997. It profiled their classic careers with interviews, clips, archive footage, Kinescopes, and new sketches shot just for the tribute. The duo was once again called back to Canada in 2005 for the production of Comedy Gold, a history of Canadian comedy featuring an All-Star cast. They also participated in a retrospective, The Joke's on Us: 50 Years of CBC Satire, in 2002.
In 1995 Peppiatt & Aylesworth were inducted into the CBC Comedy Hall of Fame at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
In 2022 the duo were inducted into the Canadian Comedy Hall of Fame on 11/16/22 in Toronto, ON (Canada), during a 3-Day comedy festival produced by Tim Progosh. In attendance to accept the awards were Frank Peppiatt's daughters Francesca Robyn Peppiatt and Marney Peppiatt, his third wife Caroline, as well as his four grandchildren. Bill Aylesworth accepted for his father on behalf of the Aylesworth family, including Linda, Bob, John, Cynthia, Thomas, Robert, and Anita.
Later life
Aylesworth was a resident of
References
- ^ a b c d e Schudel, Matt. "John Aylesworth dies; co-creator of 'Hee Haw'", The Washington Post, August 1, 2010. Accessed August 4, 2010.
- ^ Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, vol. 2, R. Reginald, 1979, pg 803
- ^ a b c d e Hevesi, Dennis. "John Aylesworth, a ‘Hee-Haw’ Creator, Dies at 81", The New York Times, August 3, 2010. Accessed August 4, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f McLellan, Dennis. "John Aylesworth dies at 81; co-creator of TV's 'Hee Haw'", Los Angeles Times, July 31, 2010. Accessed August 4, 2010.
- ^ a b c Oermann, Robert K. (1998). "Hee Haw". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 235–6.
- ^ "Obituaries in Hagerstown, MD | the Herald-Mail".
External links
- John Aylesworth at IMDb
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